Review Summary

According to Martin Scorsese, “cinema is a matter of what’s in the frame, and what’s out.” The Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami applies this axiom with particular rigor. In the first scenes of Mr. Kiarostami’s latest feature, “Like Someone in Love,” we are very much aware of what is not in the frame. We are in a Tokyo bar, listening to a series of conversations that involve a woman we cannot see. In due time, we will learn more about her — she is Akiko (Rin Takanashi), a university student working as a call girl — but that initial disorientation, the sense of being in Akiko’s presence without knowing her, sets the tone for this elusive, formally meticulous and surprisingly powerful movie. — A. O. Scott